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Preorder for October 26, 2021

“Batshit premise + hybrid structure? I could not get my hands on this fast enough.

Lozada-Oliva is known for cutting phrases, dark humor, and a tone that is both sharp and reflective and this is no exception. The main character is lonely and maybe-a-little-unhinged, the conversational voice lending an almost-flirtatious, almost-mad closeness that pulls you into this eerie world and refuses to let go.

The themes are big and complicated: Latinidad, queer identity, girlhood, the various ways in which society creates idols to tear them down and their fandoms (most widely, teenage girls) along with them. Even better, the delivery is an absurdly riotous blend of relatable nuance and fantastical horror; I loved it.”

<3Miranda

A macabre novel in verse of loss, longing, and identity crises following a poet who resurrects pop star Selena from the dead.

Melissa Lozada-Oliva’s Dreaming of You is an absurd yet heartfelt examination of celebrity worship.

A young Latinx poet grappling with loneliness and heartache decides one day to bring Tejano pop star Selena Quintanilla back to life. The séance kicks off an uncanny trip narrated by a Greek chorus of gossiping spirits as she journeys through a dead celebrity prom, encounters her shadow self, and performs karaoke in hell.

In visceral poems embodying millennial angst, paragraph-long conversations overheard at her local coffeeshop, and unhinged Twitter rants, Lozada-Oliva reveals an eerie, sometimes gruesome, yet moving love story.

Playfully morbid and profoundly candid, an interrogation of Latinidad, womanhood, obsession, and disillusionment, Dreaming of You grapples with the cost of being seen for your truest self.